Midweek round-up

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Jessica Ennis, Jenny Meadows, Jemma Simpson, Stephanie Twell and Mo Farah marked their selection for next month's IAAF World Championships with some timely PBs this week both at home and abroad.

HERCULIS MEETING, MONTE CARLO, MONACO, JULY 28

A slew of personal bests were set by handful of Great Britain & Northern Ireland’s leading endurance athletes at the Super Grand Prix meeting in Monaco on Tuesday. Competing on the track where Kelly Holmes set the current UK 800m record, Jenny Meadows (Wigan & District) shot to fifth on the UK all-time list with a lifetime best of 1:58.63 to finish third in the women’s 800m.

It was an improvement of half a second on her previous PB. Meanwhile, Jemma Simpson (Newquay & Par) moved to 10th on the UK all-time list in the same race with a clocking of 1:59.07 to finish just one place behind Meadows.

Continuing her comeback trail, Lisa Dobriskey (Ashford AC) clocked a UK-leading time of 4:02.28 in the women’s 1500m to finish fourth. Behind her, Steph Twell (Aldershot, Farnham & District) set a lifetime best of 4:03.48 and Hannah England (Oxford City) did likewise with a time of 4:04.29. Twell and England move up to second and third on the UK all-time under-23 list.

In the men’s 1500m, Mo Farah smashed his 1500m PB by more than four seconds to finish 10th in the men’s race. His time of 3:33.98 is the fastest by a British man for four years and moves him to 12th on the UK all-time list.

Also in Monaco, Chris Tomlinson (Newham & Essex Beagles) finished second in the long jump with a leap of 8.11m (0.0m/s). David Greene (Swansea) won the 400m hurdles B race with a time of 49.04 with Rhys Williams (Cardiff) finishing fourth in 49.86. Andy Turner (Sale Harriers Manchester) was sixth in the 110m hurdles in 13.44 (-0.9m/s).

Martyn Rooney (Croydon) was seventh in the 400m in 46.22, while Michael Rimmer (Liverpool Pembroke Sefton) was 10th in the 800m in 1:49.19.

FLANDERS CUP, BRASSCHAAT, BELGIUM, JULY 26

Ed Jackson went to seventh on the Pof10 rankings with a time of 1:47.6 for 800m. Darren Gauson set a PB of 3:42.53 over 1500m.

MEETING CITTA DI PERGINE, PERGINE, JULY 29European under-23 championships representative Paul Bradshaw clocked a time of 1:47.85 to finish fifth in the 800m.

BMC GOLD STANDARD RACES, WATFORD, JULY 29

Georgia Peel (Aldershot, Farnham & District) set a UK age-15 best in the 800m of 2:06.20 to go alongside the UK age-15 best she set over 1500m (4:16.24) at the English Schools' Championships earlier this month. She now sits at the top of the Pof10 under-17 rankings for both events.

Joe Thomas (Cardiff) moved up to ninth in the Pof10 800m rankings with his time of 1:47.80 to win the men's 800m. In a race won by David Forrester (St Helens Sutton) in 3:42.40, junior Nick Goolab (Belgrave) ran a PB of 3:49.78 to move to eighth on the under-20 Pof10 1500m rankings.

LOUGHBOROUGH EUROPEAN ATHLETICS PERMIT, JULY 29

In soaking conditions, Jessica Ennis (City of Sheffield) set personal bests in the long jump and shot to show that everything is on course for a very promising heptathlon campaign at the World Championships in Berlin next month.

She started round one of the shot with a PB of 13.72m before improving to 13.78m in the third round and 13.96m in the fifth. She then added three centimetres to her long jump PB with a leap of 6.43m (+0.4m/s), moving to second on the Pof10 rankings for 2009.

The meeting produced its usual array of fast sprint times, although not quite as many as last year, given the wet conditions. Gibril Bangura (Victoria Park & Tower Hamlets) set a national record for Sierra Leone in the heats of the 100m with 10.09. He finished second in the final with 10.24, a race which was won by Harry Aikines-Aryeetey (Sutton & District) in a time of 10.18 (+1.0m/s).

William Sharman (Belgrave) set a PB of 13.44 (+0.9m/s) in the 110m hurdles to establish his position in second place on the Pof10 rankings, while Callum Priestley (Woodford Green with Essex Ladies) moves to third on the Pof10 rankings with his PB of 13.56.

Sharman now moves to eighth on the UK all-time list, while Priestley goes to seventh on the UK all-time under-23 list. Earlier in the evening, Sharman clocked a wind-assisted 13.39 in the heats of the sprint hurdles.

Olympic finalist Sarah Claxton (Woodford Green with Essex Ladies) recorded her first sub-13-second clocking of the season in the 100m hurdles. She ran 12.95 (+1.1m/s) to finish second to European silver medallist Derval O’Rourke of Ireland, who ran 12.90.

Laura Turner (Harrow) won the women’s 100m final with a wind-assisted 11.32 (+2.7m/s) ahead of Abi Oyepitan (Shaftesbury Barnet), who ran 11.45. Olympic finalist Jeanette Kwakye (Woodford Green with Essex Ladies) continued her comeback from injury, but could only finish sixth with 11.61.

World Championships representative Zoe Derham (Birchfield) won the women’s hammer with a throw of 66.78m ahead of European under-23 bronze medallist Sarah Holt (Sale Harriers Manchester), who threw 64.14m.

Henrietta Paxton (Birchfield) was over four metres again in the women’s pole vault, winning with 4.06m. Due to poor weather conditions, the men’s pole vault was cancelled. Phillipa Roles (Swansea) was third in the women’s discus, throwing 57.26m, with India’s Seema Antil winning with 59.28m.